Antonio Guterres

UNITED NATIONS, August 30. /TASS/. Portugal’s former Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres remains the leader in the race for the post of UN Secretary General after a third preliminary round of voting that took place at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.

On the whole however the shortlist of the top three candidates has seen considerable changes, a well-informed diplomatic source told TASS.

Guterres, who held the position of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees until 2015, received rallied eleven votes once again, with three delegations voting against him and one delegation abstaining.

Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, who received support from nine delegations with five votes against him and one abstention, took the second place.

Sharing the third place are UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova (Bulgaria) for former Serbian Prime Minister Vuk Jeremic, who received seven ‘yes’ votes and five ‘no’ votes.

Former Slovene President Danilo Turk, who occupied the second position in the ranking after the first round of voting on July 21, has slid to the eighth position. He received five votes in his favor, with six votes against him and four delegations expressing no opinion on his candidacy.